EtsyPaper Team Weekly Featured Member - Emma Wilson

We missed a featured member post last week but we are back with our feature this week. Our next featured team member is Emma Wilson. Emma is the creative mind behind Pumpkin Sputnik. She creates notebooks and cards using images from her own beautiful photography. Emma has been a member of our team since January, 2008. We have 3 questions that tell us a little about Emma and her shop and she has chosen 6 out of all of the questions that were submitted by our team members on the forum post. Here are her answers to our questions - happy reading!

Tell us a little about yourself :

Hi! My name is Emma, I live in Glasgow, Scotland with my lovely husband and two gorgeous children. I have a degree in Design and Craft, so this is what I always wanted to do, however, the kids are my full-time job at the moment until they are a little older.



Tell us about your shop:

*When did you open it?

I opened my Etsy shop in August 2007.

*What items/type of items do you sell?

I make lots of notebooks, note cards and writing sets. I've also made wedding invitations and change of address cards.

Getting to know you - 5 Questions

1. Name top (3-5) items (for crafting purposes) that you cannot live without.

PC, bone folder, corner stamp, printers, guillotine.

2. When do you find time for crafting?

I try to do as much as I can while the kids are at school, 3pm comes around really quickly though!!

3. Do you remember the first item you made, and if so, do you still have it (or a picture of it)?

One of the first things I made at school which really inspired me to do what I did in Art School and after was an enamelled copper pendant - I was about 9. I remember the day so clearly, I was so excited when the art teacher showed us what to do and how it would come out. It's a butterfly shape and yes I still have it. When I was in Art School I specialised in enamelling and went on to make silver and enamel jewellery afterwards until I had the kids. I've also always made my own greetings cards for Christmas and birthdays, even when I was small!

4. Do you have a special space for your crafting, or does the kitchen table do double duty?

I'm very lucky to have use of the attic room - I do have to share it with lots of stuff which needs stored away though.

5.Why did you decide to become an Etsy seller?

Gosh, I remember being so excited when I found Etsy - I could actually sell my stuff online at a really low cost and be in complete control - fantastic! And it looks great!

6. What do you have on while you're creating, if anything, and is it tuned to something specific? (i.e. tv, radio)

I always have either the radio on or some music, I hate it when it's too quiet. Music helps me relax and focus and the radio keeps me company!



Find her here:

SHOP - Pumpkin Sputnik

BLOG - Pumpkin Sputnik

NING - Emma

Craftcult Ads - A Review from Member Michelle Neuendorf

Hello Etsy Paper Street Team Members! Sarah noticed that I recently ran an ad on Craftcult (a.k.a. "HEART-O-TRON) and asked me to write a post about my experience. Before I share anything, I want to let you know how I view advertising. We all love instant feedback and instant results, but I look at advertising, this type especially, as exposure and future sales. That being said, here's how it went...

The owners of the site are great to work with! Communication was wonderful and they are very helpful. I chose to run the 4 day carousel/7 day sidebar bundle. The carousel was scheduled to start first, and the great thing is, you can change the image you have on there every single day! I ended up getting more then 4 days. I'm not sure if it was because of the holiday weekend (Memorial Day) or what happened, but I'll always take a bonus! My views were the highest on Saturday and Memorial Day, but on average I received 9 views per day from the carousel.

The side bar add started 2 days after the carousel ended. I'm not sure why, but my views increased the longer the ad was up. On average, I received 8 views a day from this ad. I wouldn't say either ad brought me a ton of views, but it was 8 people who didn't know I existed before, 8 people who were interested in what I sell enough to take a look, 8 people who will hopefully remember me when they need a greeting card.

I was hearted by 28 people over the course of the ad run. Even though hearts don't equal sales, I look at them as possible future sales.

My shop has only been around for 3 months now, so I don't really have a feel for what is "normal," but it does seem that my sales have been slower in May. I do think they will be slower for the summer months in general. I know I spend less time on the computer during the summer months. I had 4 sales during the run of the ad, but 2 were to a repeat customer, so I don' t think that came from the ad.

Would I call it instant success? No. Would I say the results were huge? No. Did my ad pay for itself? Not immediately, but it did bring my shop more exposure. Don't forget, people won't automatically come to your shop, they need to know you are there. Would I advertise again? Absolutely. I especially like the carousel ad, since you can show your actual product, and change the image.

I hope this information helps. Feel free to convo me with any questions you might have. Have a great day!

Michelle Neuendorf

FIND HER HERE:

My Splitcoast Stampers Gallery: www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/michellenstamps

Quality, Handmade Cards For Sale: http://www.michellenstamps.etsy.com/

My Stamping Blog: http://www.michellenstamps.blogspot.com/

Business Card Swap Update

I have finally received every one's business cards for the May/June Team card swap and will be dividing them up and mailing them back out tomorrow. Keep a close eye on your mailboxes because they should be arriving this week. I have to say that I have really enjoyed looking at all of the different cards and the variety of styles just proves what a talented bunch we all are:)

REMEMBER:
Participating in this swap is easy. When you sell something from your shop, send along one of your business cards and one from a fellow member's shop. It may take a while for you to "clear out" all of the cards (especially if you have a slower shop), but hopefully your customers will be curious enough to check out your friend's shop as well as return to your shop. For those of you who missed this swap, no worries. We will host another one in the future. I hope this is a successful promo for you all! Happy card swapping.

It's YART SALE Time!

It's time for the 2nd annual Etsy "YART SALE" again and there has been quite a bit of talk about it (and plenty of questions from some of our newer members) in our team thread. Having participated in last year's "Yart Sale", I thought I might offer some good points on preparing your shop for a successful sale.

What is a "YART SALE"? That's simple. It is like a yard sale but for your art and crafts. It's a YART SALE!

I found out about it last year, decided to participate and I can say that I really did see an increase in both traffic & sales for the week. Not to mention that I gained a few long term/repeat customers from it as well. I was excited to find out that it was yart time again and decided to start early. I have already sold twelve yart items from my shop! There is a good bit of preparation for the sale but, the time and effort you put in will pay off. It's also a terrific way to destash and clean up your crafting space. There are plenty of customers out there specifically looking for your yart items so jump in and have a great sale!

Preparing for a YART SALE - BASICS:

• Create a YART SALE section in your shop. This will group all yart items together and make them easier for customers to find & shop.

• Edit YART item listings in your shop. Another way to make these items easy for customers to find and shop. I recommend adding "YART" or "YART SALE" in the listing title and in item tags. People actually do etsy searches for "YART".

• Adjust your price and shipping (if you decide to offer a discounted ship rate). Remember you are trying to entice the buyer. Customers love to feel like they are getting an extra special deal on items that would normally cost much more. Sometimes even a small discount on shipping can be the icing on the cake and a deciding factor in whether or not items will be leaving your shop through a sale.

• Add info about your Yart Sale and specials in your shop announcement. Let the buyer know what you have to offer (ex. types of items, discount percentage, shipping discounts, etc.)

• Create a special YART SALE banner and/or avatar. I don't do this one because I think adding YART into the item titles and tags are fine, but plenty of sellers do and it is just another good way to advertise the fact that you are participating in the yart sale. I think it works really well for those of you who like to visit the treasuries and forums a good bit.

• ADVERTISE! Be sure to add a blog post or several throughout the week on your personal/shop blog. Post about daily deals you are running, have a contest or giveaway, just talk about it. You may be surprised at how many people look at your blog and head over to your shop to see what you have going on.

• HAVE FUN WITH IT! Just have fun. Be creative with your sale. I think you'll find that once those sales start rolling in, you will try to find more and more items to add to your sale section. HAPPY YARTING:)

The OFFICIAL Yart sale dates are Wednesday, June 10th - Sunday, June 14th. I don't think four days is long enough which is why I started early,lol.

YART SALE LINKS:

• STORQUE ARTICLES
• ETSY FORUM POSTS

Flickr Pool Friday

Not too scary, just a little bit "wild" - this has got to be one of the coolest paper cupcake holders I've ever seen:)

PHOTO: Missamyo

EtsyPaper Team Weekly Featured Member - Kalla Vieth

Our next featured team member is Kalla Vieth. Kalla is the owner of Timeless Paper Arts. She creates an assortment of beautiful "scrappy" items and has been a member of our team since January, 2008. We have 3 questions that tell us a little about Kalla and her shop and she has chosen 5 out of all of the questions that were submitted by our team members on the forum post. Here are her answers to our questions - happy reading!

Tell us a little about yourself :

My name is Kalla Vieth. I live in South Dakota, I'm married, have two kids and one dog. I was a hair stylist for fourteen years when I decided to leave the hair business to be home with my kids. Best decision I ever made!

Tell us about your shop:

*When did you open it?

Sept. 5, 2007

*What items/type of items do you sell?

I have all sorts of paper crafts...from mini note cards, altered items such as tins, binder clips and notebooks, to chipboard albums and scalloped tags..and more! Simple, yet elegant is how I describe my creations.

Getting to know you - 5 Questions

1. Name top (3-5) items (for crafting purposes) that you cannot live without.

Tonic guillotine cutter- the large one Doodlebug craft knife, Tombow Mono Multi liquid glue, Mini Glue Dots, bone folder

2. Why did you decide to become on Etsy seller?

In the beginning, I guess the "why" part was to sell my cards. I made cards for family members and it was actually my husband who suggested I sell my cards. I knew about Etsy... just needed to do some more reading up on it. I was nervous about putting my work out there for all to see, lol. Once I felt comfortable enough, I signed up. I had only cards in my shop when I first opened, and not very many. Today, I have more variety and probably will keep it that way as I am always looking for new and different things to create.

3. What is your favorite technique/ your "specialty"?

Altering. I love covering things with paper!

4. How did you learn your craft?

I've never taken a class of any kind...ever. I didn't have the Internet when I started nine years ago, so I learned scrap booking and card making techniques by reading magazines. Then later, as I got into more advanced things like altering, I searched the Internet for tutorials or asked on message boards.

5. How did your shop get its name?

It was challenging coming up with a name! I sat down one day with a pen and notebook and wrote down whatever came to mind. The ones I liked the best were already taken (I was doing a domain search too). I also had to find a name that covered everything that I do, and not just scrap booking. Since I consider myself a papercrafter, I liked how "paper arts" sounded...and "Timeless" came from the materials I work with- scrapbook supplies. Scrapbook supplies are acid-free/long-lasting...or "timeless". Put them together, and I have Timeless Paper Arts!

Find Kalla Here:

SHOP - Timeless Paper Arts

BLOG - Timeless Paper Arts

NING - Kalla